[237] 44 



nature. But the mass of information tlint I have collected would furnish 

 the subject of too many chapters, that mijrht be deemed irrelevant to the 

 present report. I leave Ihem for another occasion. 



On the 2d day of July, at 4 o'clock, p. m., there remained to effect the 

 passage of seventeen horses across the river. But the bark which had been 

 procured was too small and too feeble to support more than the men. It 

 became necessary to urge the horses to swim across — each man of the party 

 taking charge of one horse. It may be well supposed that there was no 

 lack of confusion during this truly perilous ferry; and, to this day, I thank 

 God that men, horses, and baors^iffe were not buried under the slime of the 

 Missouri. The night was passed at the foot of the hills opposite Fort Pierre ; 

 and the next morning, the whole caravan (consisting of nineteen persons, 

 ten cars, and thirty horsf s) were under way, ascending the hill to the Goteau 

 du Missouri above. 



The plateau that crowns the hills just referred to, has an elevation of 

 not more than 5lU feet above the waters of the Missouri ; but its slope on 

 the river side is very steep; so that, referring to the map along its whole 

 length from the Niohrarah river, it will be seen to drain nothing but 

 short creeks. Hence it was with great difficulty, and not until after a 

 lapse of three hours, that we succeeded in reaching the open and unbroken 

 country. In the meanwhile, the scouters liad fallen upon a small herd 

 of buffaloes, from which they obtained a very acceptable mess of fresh 

 meat, of which we had been deprived for some time. This circumstance, 

 together with the necessity of making sundry repairs to our vehicles, in- 

 duced me to order a halt, after a less number of hours than is usual; for 

 we were not more than eight miles to the NE. of Fort Pierre. It will 

 be seen, however, that, from this spot, our journeys assumed a regularity 

 that will dispense with the necessity of my giving any detailed accounts of 

 them. 



On reaching the Coteau du Missouri, there are no further apparent 

 Coteau dn traces of the cretaceous formation. It is a rolling prairie, the soil 

 Missouri, of which is a mixture of fine sand and gravel ; but still, it is 

 partly covered by a short, sweet-scented, and grateful verdure. An inspec- 

 tion of the gullies shows that the basis of this soil is the erratic deposite 

 previously described. The silicious particles of the soil are blackened by 

 the smoke of the vernal and autumnal fires of the prairies; and, as the 

 growth is too scant to prevent the dust from being raised by the almost in- 

 cessant winds that blow over them, the traveller is very much inconve- 

 nienced. There are no springs to quench the thirst ; and it is only at wide 

 distances apart that small pools are met with, bordered by aquatic plants, 

 towards which the experience of his guide is necessary to bring him to his 

 bivouac/, where he must needs have recourse to the dried dung of the buf- 

 falo f(/ fuel. It was in the hope of extricating ourselves from uitficulties 

 of this kind, that we made an examination of ihe forks of the East Medi- 

 cine river, which empties into the Missouri about fifteen miles below Fort 

 Pierre. 



This last-mentioned river derives its name from a beautiful hill on its 

 right bank, called by the Sioux Fnhah luakan — translated by the voyageurs, 

 " Butte de Medicine," and, in English, Medicine hillock, or knoll. It is 

 to be remarked, in fact, of the prairies of this region, tliat they present 

 such low insulated hillocks, to which the Sioux apply the somewhat 

 generic name of re or paliahy according as they are more or less elevated 



